GSFC has entered into two agreements that grant NASA scientists access to cutting-edge nanotechnology research facilities outside the Agency. “These agreements essentially allow NASA to expand our infrastructure without incurring the costs of building the labs and buying the equipment ourselves,” said Dan Powell (Code 540), Goddard’s lead nanotechnology researcher. “And anyone at Goddard can take advantage of these arrangements.”

Earlier this year, Goddard signed an agreement with the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to develop a joint program of collaboration that enhances each lab’s research capabilities. Areas of collaboration include design, fabrication, and testing of nanoscience and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and technologies for use in chemical and biological detectors, power generation, thermal management systems, radio frequency electronics, electro-optic devices, and distributed sensor networks.

Similarly, Goddard signed a Space Act Agreement (SAA) in June that allows NASA researchers to experiment with the new JEOL 2200FS aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope (TEM) at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, without ever leaving Greenbelt.

Lehigh’s JEOL TEM, which has 0.1-nm resolution, can be operated remotely. Powell is establishing an operation interface within Building 30 to provide real-time, remote access to Lehigh’s instrument. Once that interface is established, Goddard researchers have up to 100 hours of JEOL TEM time at no cost. This access allows NASA to begin to demonstrate the potential for space-based remote microscopy, which could be used in future missions.

Goddard personnel now have access to some of ARL’s cuting-edge facilities. Photo courtesy of Army Research Lab; all rights reserved.

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